Helpless
by Kaesteranya
Summary: Persona 3 fanfiction; set in September. Mitsuru asks Shinji to check up on Akihiko, who's down with the flu. Of course, Shinji does more than just check him over.


**Helpless**

_This is meant to take place after that scene where Akihiko punches Shinji for being a big, fat asshole, and during the typhoon period in September._

_The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for November 16, 2007._

* * *

"Take this and _stay in your room_. I mean it, Junpei! Fuuka! Are you all right in there? _Fuuka!_ …Aigis, go check on Yukari. Once you've made sure she's fine, see to Fuuka in the kitchen… the last thing I need is the stove exploding."

Shinjiro Aragaki stepped in from the streets and entered a storm of a very different sort, where he found himself faced with Mitsuru Kirijo barking orders at the other (mostly sick) members of SEES in the common room. The brown-haired boy shrugged off his coat and remained near the doorway, watching Junpei Iori dejectedly slink back up the stairs. Aigis followed him, steering clear of the trajectory of his sneezes. Shinji wasn't sure whether Aigi was avoiding Junpei because she was the only robot in the world that could get sick or if it was simply because she didn't want to get dirty.

"Ah… just the man I was looking for, sort of."

Mitsuru marched over and planted a hand on Shinji's forehead, checking his temperature. Once she was assured that he wasn't carrying yet another virus into the dormitory, she shoved some hand towels, a sponge and a basin full of ice cubes and water into his arms.

"Minato fell sick just this morning, so I need to make sure he's all right. That leaves you to watch over Aki… maybe you can sponge him down for me while you're at it."

Shinji blinked. He looked down at the basin, up at Mitsuru, then down at the basin again. One eyebrow rose up. Mitsuru, however, was already halfway up the stairs with her own gear. "Make sure his fever doesn't get worse!" she called out to him, just as she disappeared.

…_Easier said than done_. Nevertheless, Shinji knew better than to call Mitsuru on it — he had been a victim of one too many Executions back in the day. The boy stopped at his room first to towel himself down and change into more comfortable clothes before he headed for Akihiko's room. He could hear the wind howling outside, and the rain splattering against the windows. Shinji entered his old friend's room without bothering to announce himself.

"Damn it, Shinji… the least you could do is knock!"

"Waste of time. Mitsuru sent me, by the way."

Whatever Akihiko Sanada intended to say ended up getting lost in a bad fit of coughing. Shinji approached the bed and the bundle of blankets and feverish fist-fighter curled up on it; he sat down, pulling the covers away from Akihiko's face. He swatted his friend's hand aside when the silver-haired boy tried to fend him off.

"Stop being such a stubborn git. You're sick and you need to get better."

"…I can take care of myself."

Shinji ignored the words and went for the basin instead. It wasn't hard to notice the fact that Akihiko wouldn't look at him. Things had become awkward between them since their last conversation somewhere in Port Island Station, with a fist to Shinji's face, some tears in Akihiko's eyes and a whole lot of heated words in between. Shinji still knew exactly where his old friend had punched him; it hurt whenever he put his hand to it.

"Why did Mitsuru have to send you here anyway…?"

"Stop talking." Shinji soaked one of the towels before folding it and placing it on Akihiko's forehead. "Mitsuru's busy with that Arisato kid."

"He got sick too?"

"Looks like it. Now half the dorm's down with the flu… we're lucky that even Shadows will let up during storms like this."

Akihiko let out a small, hoarse laugh. "Only an idiot like you could think of fighting at a time like this."

"I thought I told you to stop talking." Shinji paused, remembering the sponge. He hesitated for no more than a moment. There really _was_ no going around it.

"W-what are you—?!"

"Mitsuru told me to sponge you down," Shinji replied, in as casual a voice as he could manage while alternately holding Akihiko down and taking off his clothes. "Stop struggling."

Akihiko, as expected, did not comply. Shinji let things go on in that fashion for a few more moments before he finally caught the other boy's wrists and pinned them against the bed with one hand. This time, Akihiko was looking straight at him, his chest heaving from the effort of throwing Shinji off and not entirely succeeding. That suited Shinji just fine.

"You really are a stubborn git," he muttered, as he reached towards Akihiko's school uniform on the wall and the tie stuffed into its pocket.

It wasn't the first time Shinji had seen Akihiko naked (and it certainly wouldn't be the last), but the fact that he had tied the other boy's wrists to the headboard made things quite different from the usual. The blindfold, he admitted, was more of a personal touch than a necessity, but Akihiko didn't have to know that.

"Can I sponge you down in peace now?"

"…You're an asshole."

"I take that as a yes."

Shinji moved the basin closer and climbed on top of Akihiko's body; he lowered himself down, noting how the other boy stiffened, feeling the fevered heat of the boxer's skin. Akihiko flinched when Shinji first used the sponge, and bit back a small yelp of surprise. Shinji wondered, idly, if it was the cold water that Akihiko was reacting to, or if it was his own touch.

"I-it's c… cold."

"You don't say."

The last of the resistance melted away within the next few minutes as Shinji kept it up, slowly sponging down Akihiko's face and chest. Although the boxer was trying his best not to show it, Shinji knew that the other boy was struggling to stay on top of things and just barely succeeding: it was obvious, in how Akihiko had pressed his face against the pillow and gasped into the sheets every time Shinji so much as moved the sponge against his skin. The brown-haired boy chuckled.

"You don't have to act so tough, you know."

"Shut up."

Shinji moved lower, tracing hips, thighs and other things with the sponge in his hand. Akihiko nearly whimpered. The fevered boy's cheeks and ears were flushed but the rest of his body was pale and hot, trembling from something other than the cold. Shinji sat back, settling on his thighs in order to take the sight of Akihiko in; he was keenly aware of the feel of the boy stretched out beneath him, but he focused instead on the way Akihiko's face looked, the way his lips hung open, panting and needy. When Shinji took an ice cube and pressed it to Akihiko's mouth, the other boy sucked on it greedily. He protested when Shinji pulled it away.

"D-don't tease me like this!"

"Mitsuru asked me to sponge you down," Shinji calmly returned. "I don't remember her telling me to fuck you. Or is that what you want to happen?"

"S-Shinji…"

Shinji held the ice cube just above Akihiko's lips, letting it drip into the other boy's mouth.

"Say it and mean it."

They had argued only days ago, and now Akihiko found himself bound to his own bed, weak and dizzy from a fever and the heat of his own need, unable to stop Shinji from tracing another ice cube across his lips, or down his chest, or even lower, around his balls and his cock. He wanted to see, to know what Shinji would do or where he would move next, but the other Persona user wouldn't remove the blindfold no matter how much he begged. It was only after thirty agonizing minutes that the heat and weight of Shinji's hand — huge and strange to Akihiko's blindness — replaced the light, cold touch of the ice cubes. Akihiko came a lot faster than he would have wanted and Shinji laughed, but at that point, Akihiko was beyond caring.

"I guess I have my answer now, huh?" Shinji murmured, as he finally pulled away the blindfold from Akihiko's face. His lover only glared at him, but it was hard to be convinced that he was angry given the misted look in his eyes. "So… lube's in the left drawer, or the right?"

"S-shut up and do me already!"

Shinji smirked and reached into the left drawer. Minutes later, he pushed his fingers into Akihiko, and looked on quite calmly as he completely threw the boy over the edge.

Mitsuru was not surprised to discover, in the following day, that Akihiko's fever had gotten worse and Shinji was starting to sniffle. Since her priority, however, was resuscitating Minato, the so-called 'leader' of their Tartarus operations, she left Aigis to nurse/abuse the both of them back to health.


End file.
